But I do believe it will be worthwhile for John McCain to hold Town Hall meetings with undecided voters. He has one scheduled for tomorrow in St. Paul, Minnesota.
His opponent Barack Obama has been invited to participate in a series of these meetings, but Obama refuses. I suspect it’s because he knows how empty he sounds without a script. His sock-puppet revelries play well with notes or a teleprompter, but when he’s forced to use his own brain words like “bitter” and “sweetie” tumble forth.
McCain, on the other hand, excels in front of a curious crowd. He’s not afraid of hard questions as I saw in Greendale* last month. He know his proposals, and it shows in his answers.
Do you want the wimp with a speech writer or the guy that can think on his feet?
*Fixed about 4pm, and yes, that was embarrassing.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Kathryn // Jun 18, 2008 at 3:05 pm
There are various kinds of thinking on your feet. McCain is great in a town-hall setting, fast and confident, but not always on the mark with his comments (e.g. the Iran-al Queida slip.) Sometimes he denies saying what he’s said previously. His speeches are not great, and his debates are not great.
Obama is great in a debate, great in a speech, maybe not so good in a town-hall or working a crowd.
Each candidate is going to play to his strengths.
2 Cindy Kilkenny // Jun 18, 2008 at 3:07 pm
But which set of strengths is more meaningful in a presidential candidate?
3 Greg Kowalski // Jun 18, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Oh Cindy, I forgive you since you don’t live over in the southern half of the metro, but McCain was in Greendale, not Greenfield, for his Town Hall meeting.
First you pick Bayshore over Southridge, and now Greenfield over Greendale. Oh, and you also mentioned Glendale too!
As I said, we’ll forgive you, since that got a grin on my face.
4 Kathryn // Jun 18, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Not too worried on this front; no flies on either one of these guys.